CHRISTMAS-EPIPHANY DAYS SHINE FORTH THE LIGHT OF CHRIST OUR SAVIOR WHO IS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD !!!!!!!!!!..........

Yesterday afternoon after having an enjoyable fraternal lunch with Fr. Steve Avella, who is winding up his Christmas break in Sacramento, before returning to Milwaukee and his teaching duties at Marquette University, I crossed over 39th Street and proceeded walking down J Street to check out one of the neighbor fitness gyms. Walking along the sidewalk who did I come upon but Bishop Emeritus Francis Anthony Quinn, who was walking back to his residence at Mercy McMahon Terrace. We stopped and spoke for several minutes, before each of us continued to our respective locations. I also made my first sick call to Mercy General Hospital just before lunch yesterday afternoon, anointing a man in the MICU unit. The fitness gym closest to the church is more a private studio concentrating on pilates by personal appointments. There are other gyms in the neighborhood, so I will continue my search. My St. Kieran's Seminary spiritual director and priestly friend, Fr. Dan Bollard, also phoned me yesterday with Christmas-New Year greetings and Msgr. Kavanagh called to check in, as we do with each other once a week or so...Today, January 6, is the traditional day of Epiphany, the Christmas feast denoting the manifestation of the Christ Child to the Three Kings, underscoring His Coming as a birth of salvation for all peoples, the Gentiles, as well as the Jews. The Three Kings, also known as The Wisemen, or The Magi, discovered the place where the infant Jesus was by following the brightness of a star, a brilliant star of light that led them to the Light of Lights, Jesus the Christ, the King of the Universe. Prostrating before Him the Wisemen were acknowledging the supremacy of Christ's Kingship. Offering Him gifts of Gold, Frankenincense, and Myrhh, they were representing His Royalty, Priestlyness, and Self-Sacrificing, nature as a Divine, yet also Human, Being. Since my arrival In Residence at Sacred Heart on New Year's Eve afternoon, I have taken an evening walk around the neighborhood. Not only am I savoring the opportunity to see more of East Sacramento as I walk up and down the blocks, but especially delight in the Christmas lights that are still shining on and in, many of the houses. The wider world has pretty much put Christmas away and returned to business as usual. But for us as Catholic-Christmas Believers this week is the crescendo of our celebration of the Holy Birth of Our Lord and Savior. Our Christmas lights of joy and glad tidings should continue to shine bright !!!!!!!!!! The seventeen days of the Christmas this year concludes this coming Sunday January 10, with the commemoration of the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. As we too, follow the Christmas-Epiphany star that has come to us, how well are you doing shining the Light of Christ Our Savior into the darkness of an unenlightened world ?..........In the Brightness of Faith, Fellowship, and Fidelity, to the Christmas-Epiphany Light Who is Jesus the Christ, Fr. Troy